Chicago White Sox

Balta, I think I agree with everything you've said in this thread. Good stuff and hopefully the Sox follow a similar plan.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jul 21, 2015 -> 04:51 AM) Is it possible that Soler isn't as great as people, including me, thought he'd be? I believe Melky has a better stat line than him now. Actually, Soler: .258, 5 HR, 26 RBI, .705 OPS Avisail Garcia: .272, 7 HR, 31 RBI, .703 OPS And that's with a .371 BABIP. Hard to be a successful major league hitter when you strike out 32% of the time. Still way too early to jump to any conclusions, but Cubs fans will be heartbroken when they finally realize that not all these prospects will pan out.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 21, 2015 -> 04:23 AM) That would put Price, Cueto, Hamels and probably Chapman ahead of Samardzija...and, if the Sox are asking too much, someone like Haren from the Marlins. Price & Cueto sure, but Chapman is a closer and Hamels is in a completely different group due to his contract. And Haren is a big cut below Shark & the rest of these guys and not rarely a factor come October. Right now, the best way to maximize Shark's value is to move him while Cueto's asking price is ridiculous and before Price becomes readily available.

This is why the Sox need to be the first ones to the market with Shark, because if a few more teams decide to sell things can quickly swing in the other direction. I really hope Hahn gets aggressive here in the next couple days.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jul 20, 2015 -> 11:05 PM) definitely think Putnam goes though I'd rather see them deal Petricka Petricka's GB % makes him incredibly valuable in our park. I'd deal Putnam while he still has +13/9 K rate.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jul 20, 2015 -> 10:19 PM) Caulfield was being facetious . Saladino was brought up during a good stretch of hitting . Well I'm an idiot, his comment makes sense now.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 20, 2015 -> 09:53 PM) They need to wait 2-3 weeks until he's cooled off and starting to doubt himself a bit, like with Sanchez. You want to bring up a guy to the majors when he's starting to doubt himself a bit?

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Jul 20, 2015 -> 01:51 PM) It's following the exact same structure as the first season. I loved the shootout at the end of the fourth episode, which is just as tense and action packed as the tracking shot from the first season but for different reasons. Please elaborate. The tracking shot from the first season was incredible, one of the best action sequences in TV history. The shootout in last week's episode was entertaining but nothing special. I guess I don't get the comparison.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Jul 20, 2015 -> 09:20 PM) Why isn't Leury Garcia in the mix to temporarily fill the hole at SS, if Alexei is not brought back? He's a strong defender, with a canon for an arm, and is having a pretty good year at AAA. Would you really want to give him a chance over Saladino? IMO, Tyler is the better player both offensively & defensively and it wouldn't even be a question who I give the everyday at-bats at SS to.

I've said it before, but Micah needs to be called up as soon as Shark is traded. It would give him a good two months in the majors to prove whether or not his defense has progressed to the "passable" level. If so, I think you can safely count on him as your 2B heading into 2016, as the bat will translate well to the majors IMO.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jul 20, 2015 -> 11:38 AM) System has really picked it up. Micah, Montas, Adams, Anderson have all been getting better month-by-month. Next tier has always been improving. Trey's been great since a terrible April. Hawkins got hot this last month and cut down the K's. Arrow is pointing up for sure. Very true and almost what we should have hoped/expected with how aggressive we are with assignments. Having said that, it's hard to feel optimistic when guys are struggling early in the season regardless of age. Let's just hope these guys can keep it up the rest of the way.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jul 20, 2015 -> 03:28 PM) I'm not convinced that $10m can be re-allocated in a way to make up for the difference between a bounce-back Alexei and what Tyler Saladino is likely to produce. The FA market for SS is weak, and if you're going to "let the kids play," you're not likley to use the money anyway. The problem your article ignores (still great analysis BTW), is that Alexei will be 34 next season. You more than anyone on this site should acknowledge that even if he has been unlucky this year, he's due for significant regression in the very near future. IMO, hoping for bounceback in luck AND no decline due to age is a gamble not worth taking at $10M. For that kind of money, we should be able to get a younger, better bounceback candidate at a different position of need.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 20, 2015 -> 02:03 PM) One problem I'm now noticing...who would play 1b? Abreu looks like he's about to fall apart right now and that's after 5 days off. I don't exactly care about losing more games, but seriously who plays 1b for the next few games/if Abreu goes on the DL and LaRoche is shipped out? That's a fair point. If Abreu can't handle a full workload at 1B (say 150 games), then we may not have a choice but moving Avi instead (or even both). RF & 3B are the two spots IMO where we should be targeting significant two-way upgrades. I don't see this team taking a step forward until they add a couple difference makers at those spots (along with improvements & lesser upgrades at other positions).

I think there will be some teams interested in LaRoche. IMO, his problems this year are tied to facing too much LHP (should really be platooned), DHing rather than playing 1B (some guys can't handle the adjustment), & to a lesser extent inconsistent playing time by being forced to the bench when we play in NL parks. I think there's a useful player still there, and other GMs would probably be willing to give up a halfway decent prospect for him if he came with some financial relief. You definitely won't get anything of value if you force a team to take on his full salary. Regardless, LaRoche is a guy we should definitely try to move. Would much rather rotate the DH spot between Avi & Melky next year and open up RF for a significant upgrade defensively than go with a pure DH.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 19, 2015 -> 04:13 PM) In what world has he shown enough to not get regular playing time? With his performance in limited time, he at least deserves a chance. Dude has no power, we can't afford another slap hitter getting everyday at-bats. He's proved me wrong as a 4th OF, but I'm confident he wouldn't be much of an upgrade over Avi as a regular if at all, and definitely without much upside. If you can find a taker for LaRoche, which I think is a good idea, move Avi to LF/DH and let Thompson get the playing time in RF.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 19, 2015 -> 03:59 PM) I hope we somehow rid of LaRoche at the deadline. Then Shuck could play RF regularly with Avi DHing This is a horrible idea. In what world has Shuck shown enough to get regular playing time?

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jul 19, 2015 -> 10:02 AM) greg you're a bloody closet Royal's fan. This x 1000, anyone predicting a 5-1 loss with Sale starting either has a screw loose or is a fan of the opposing team. I think we know which bucket Greg falls into.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jul 19, 2015 -> 10:25 AM) Yes, who can question a 73 win team spending $6 million on utility infielders, neither of whom can hit, and one who can neither hit nor defend? What team wouldn't keep a player with a .356 OPS on its 25 man roster? Gillaspie is a better hitter than Beckham or Bonifacio. And he can play 1st. Conor has been horrible this year. His value has always been tied to hitting RHP and that has stopped. He is now a reserve with limited flexibility who does nothing well. Is he a better pinch hitter option than Bonifacio & Beckham? No doubt, but for all other aspects of the game I'd rather role with one of the two guys. This simply comes down to getting rid of the worst of three s***ty options and quite frankly it doesn't really matter who they chose. The important thing is they're committing to Saladino, which is the right call at this point in time.

Good move. Once Conor stopped hitting RHP, he really served no value to the team. Bonifacio won't be far behind IMO.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 19, 2015 -> 03:13 AM) Sox had been playing well before the break, winning series after series. As expected, they are back to their Sox ways post AS break. I predict the inevitable 3 of 4 losses to KC. Today's game 5-1 Royals. Most predictable post ever...

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jul 18, 2015 -> 06:18 PM) This is on Venturs What should he have done?

Time to end this f***ing game.

I'm sorry but Tyler Flowers sucks. I can't believe how many posts I've seen in the past week or so saying catching isn't a gigantic problem. I don't care where we currently rank in terms of catcher OPS, because had you looked at the end of May we'd be near the bottom. Flowers had a good June where he finally hit some home runs and brought his overall offensive numbers to respectability, but anyone thinking this was anything but a hot streak will be fooling themselves. We saw the same thing last year, wait until the end of the season and the numbers will be garbage as usual. We're stuck with him for now, but Hahn definitely needs to find a better starting catcher than Flowrrs before next season.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jul 18, 2015 -> 02:42 PM) F off LaRoche. Still want Avi starting instead, I don't care about the pitchers numbers, I care about the hitters and how they are hitting LaRoche has had a lot of time off over the last few weeks, so it's not surprising to see him struggling right now. He'll need more consistent playing to get out of his funk, so we should definitely be playing him against RHP.

Come on Adam, big at-bat here.